Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 226 - 226 6 Burrow Dragon

226: Chapter 6 Burrow Dragon 226: Chapter 6 Burrow Dragon “It’s also possible that you were captured, but I escaped.

In that case, if you don’t know the intelligence, then our friend would be safe, wouldn’t they?” the Solo Kill King naturally spoke of the intelligence.

His attitude was so natural that even though Yuki vaguely felt something was amiss, he still nodded and said, “That makes sense…”

Then, everything went dark before his eyes, and he felt the world turning upside down.

The boy immediately tensed up, “Who?” Only then did he see clearly that the Solo Kill King had also been thrown beside him.

Yuki was shocked, “We really got caught?

Just when we were close to our destination…”

Hiroshi Matsushima held his forehead, “One daring to teach, the other daring to believe…

I mean, you’re supposed to be a Hero.

Is it appropriate to teach a child such things?”

Jader got up from the ground and said, “Elder brother, this is what you don’t understand.

You haven’t been through the Jianghu.

These are the rules of the Jianghu.

Sometimes, weaker Heroes must buy time for the stronger ones, or a few elite fighters carve out a path for the masses—it’s a possible sacrifice.

However, how did you know we were here?”

“I buried a wired eavesdropping device at the door, the most primitive kind,” Hiroshi Matsushima said.

Yuki turned his head and glared at the Solo Kill King.

Jader, slightly embarrassed, said, “That…

is…

after all…”

“Living in the city, one must be extra cautious, so my eavesdropping devices are even more concealed than the government’s—although the government’s surveillance system doesn’t really need to be concealed.

It’s just blatantly there.”

Of course, because Hiroshi Matsushima’s listening devices were so primitive, there was a lot of noise.

But years of training allowed him to skillfully filter out relevant information from the noise.

And when Jader was at the door, he heard their conversation.

Before Jader could knock, he had already pulled the two inside.

Because of his swift action, Yuki didn’t react in time and only felt his surroundings suddenly change.

“What happened?” Yuki looked around and then moved his joints, “Based on this pain…

was I just pulled into the house?

Sir, are you also a Martial Artist?”

“Mhm, not just a Martial Artist, but also a rather formidable one,” Xiang Shan’s voice came from inside the room.

Yuki excitedly said, “Master, you’re here too?”

“What do you mean ‘too’…

I’m supposed to be here,” Xiang Shan sighed, “Speaking of which, I told you before that under these circumstances, it would have been fine for you to just walk away, didn’t I?”

Yuki ran into the living room and saw Xiang Shan occupying a corner of the room, charging himself.

Jader scratched his head, “Old pal, given your location in this place, aren’t you afraid of a surprise inspection?”

“I’m a fully cyberized Cybernetically Enhanced Person,” Xiang Shan said, “During such a severe dust storm, it’s nearly impossible to receive solar energy at lower altitudes.

What completely cyberized person would wander around outside at such times?

Aren’t they afraid their Prosthetic Body will run out of power and just break down by the side of the road?”

It was then that Jader remembered.

His impression that “the city becomes especially lively during a dust storm” was indeed from the time when he was an apprentice in the Martial Arts School with a low degree of cyberization.

After he became more cyberized, he and Matsushima would practice martial arts inside the school, fully preparing for the competition, and he hadn’t been going out much.

The higher the degree of cyberization, the lower the demand for food, but the demand for electrical energy increases.

A fully cyberized Benchmark Man needs only two large solar panels to survive long-term, consuming less food in a month than an unmodified person would in a single meal.

However, large capacity batteries have certain technical requirements.

Stockpiling food is much easier than acquiring super-sized batteries.

So, during dust storms, fully cyberized individuals either find a place with electricity to stay or turn off most of their cybernetics and sleep.

Gang activity becomes more frequent during this period simply because they have much more battery reserve than ordinary people.

Gathering together for a few Martial Artists to use, they can naturally support combat of a certain intensity.

Xiang Shan’s batteries were taken from Green Forest.

Although they had greater capacity than usual, they could not sustain continuous combat without recharging.

Given that the end of the dust storm was unpredictable, he simply holed up at Matsushima’s place.

Many fully cyberized people also choose to seek temporary shelter with someone during such times.

It’s not particularly conspicuous.

“That’s true,” said Jader.

“I initially came to ask where you were, elder brother.

This is convenient.” He crowed in as well, familiarly finding a socket, “I need to charge up too.”

Yuki stared at the socket, deep in thought, “Say, would the government come knocking because of excessive power consumption?”

“That’s unlikely,” Xiang Shan shook his head, “The amount of electricity a person uses naturally fluctuates.

Take our teacher here, in his house, he has a large computer.

That’s a significant power consumer.

If he activates the simulation function and engages in combat with Martial Artists in virtual reality, then electricity will quickly be drained.

Compared to that, the rate of my charging is quite stable.”

Matsushima nodded in agreement but his face didn’t look too good, “I’ve adjusted most of the home appliances to energy-saving mode.”

Xiang Shan called out, “Kid, find a place to charge up too.”

“Oh,” Yuki nodded.

Xiang Shan then looked at the Solo Kill King, “Speaking of which, little brother, I remember that your Sect, Redstone Gate, is in the Arctic, right?”

“Yes.”

“So you have a way to get uranium ore?” Xiang Shan asked.

“Or are you extracting deuterium and tritium from seawater?”

It wasn’t until after the sandstorms had started that Xiang Shan realized this point.

After the sandstorms, there were several days when energy couldn’t be replenished by solar panels, and the Heroes just couldn’t hold up.

But the Arctic and Antarctic have polar nights for half the year.

Even during the polar days, the sunlight is often not very good.

In other words, a Sect that could establish itself in the Arctic most likely had ways of replenishing energy through other means.

The possibility of geothermal energy from submarine volcanoes and tidal energy did exist, but those sources were ultimately not as convenient as a reactor.

These guys probably knew how to get hold of radioactive minerals.

And with radioactive minerals, the situation could be turned around in an instant.

This stuff is excellent whether it’s used for reactors, radioactive isotope batteries, or nuclear bombs.

Conveniently, David Klein had worked on the first two, and Xiang Shan had access to the complete data in his mind.

And the technology to make a nuclear bomb was even simpler.

But that said, acquiring radioactive minerals was no easy task.

Xiang Shan did know that by the early 21st century, most reserves of radioactive minerals on Earth had been identified.

Everyone had a good idea of where radioactive minerals could be mined.

Under such circumstances, the Protectors would certainly occupy those places.

They would be heavily guarded.

Transporting radioactive minerals was also a massive problem.

Take uranium ore as an example.

The uranium content inside a uranium mine is actually pitifully low.

Ores with uranium content between 0.05% and 0.2% are already the most commonly used in industrial purification.

One kilogram of uranium ore could only yield half a gram to two grams of uranium.

Carrying large quantities of uranium ore away from Protector-monitored mines was virtually impossible.

But even if a Hero really used 3D printing to create a set of smelting equipment in the mine from local materials, it wouldn’t be possible to take the purified uranium out.

Its radioactivity was too obvious.

In front of a detection device, it would stand out like a big, bright light bulb.

Over the last few days, Xiang Shan had considered whether or not to check the nearby rare earth mining area.

The reserves of rare earths and radioactive minerals in the New World were relatively large.

If he wanted, he could find the mining area from back then within a few days.

But after thinking it over, he still didn’t do it.

Firstly, there was too little information.

He couldn’t be sure if the mines had been depleted over the last few hundred years, nor did he know how many government Houndhawks were at the mining area.

Secondly, even if he managed to sneak in, he truly couldn’t think of a safe way to take out large quantities of uranium ore or enriched uranium.

This matter, of course, still called for consulting someone more familiar with the modern Jianghu.

“As you know, the content of deuterium and tritium in seawater is very low,” Jader said.

“Separating deuterium and tritium also requires energy.

Maintaining fusion confinement also requires a huge amount of energy.

To ignite a fusion reactor, relying solely on sunshine is far from enough.

I remember Redstone Gate and most other Sects first got a fission reactor or an isotope battery, and then they accumulated enough for a fusion reactor.”

Xiang Shan said, “So there is a way then?”

“That… IS indeed difficult,” Jader acknowledged the gravity of the situation.

“Trying to pry uranium from under the nose of the government is harder than scaling the heavens.

There are Heroes who risk their lives for it.”

In the last two hundred years, all known deposits of radioactive minerals on Earth that were of industrial grade had been depleted.

The Protectors occupied the Moon, which had an abundance of Helium-3 and therefore no need for fission materials.

But even if they didn’t need so much radioactive material at that moment, they had to prevent it from falling into the hands of Heroes.

However, the remaining low-grade ores had such little value in extraction – so low that the difference between radioactive material and dirt was minuscule.

Mining these was time-consuming, laborious, and hard to fully eliminate.

This was the only hope left for Heroes to obtain fissionable elements.

Some Heroes got specialized Prosthetic Bodies for underground operations and fought Guerrilla warfare with government Houndhawks beneath the mines, continuously scraping out bits of uranium ore to take away, purify in safe areas, and then ship off the low-grade uranium in graphite containers.

These materials would end up in the hands of Jianghu Heroes who needed them, who would then further purify them into enriched uranium.

These specialized underground Guerrillas were known in the Jianghu as “Burrow Dragons.”

However, the amount of uranium ore that “Burrow Dragons” could obtain was limited.

Each year, only a small number of handmade isotope batteries would appear in the Jianghu.

More often, the isotope batteries used by Heroes were stolen.